How CG's and Individuals Can Care For Our Missionaries

1. First, adopt a missionary! Be the first to take the initiative to know the person and build on the friendship. Try as best as possible to develop good relationships. Find out their likes and dislikes, hobbies, types of food they enjoy, birthdays (theirs & children if any), and anniversaries (if couple). Know them as well as you can.
   
2. Affirm the missionary with solid moral support. Encourage him/her to keep focused on Jesus Christ. Encourage him/her to take one step at a time. Express appreciation and give moral support to those significant in the lives of the missionary.
   
3. Pray without ceasing and pray specifically. Recognize that spiritual conflicts are encountered all the time and prayer is needed all the time. Use the regular updates in the Missions World weekly newsletter for this. Some items remain the same over a few weeks indicating that these need continuous prayer! Some in your CG may wish to be a prayer coordinator for that missionary and assist in the flow of prayer information into Missions World.
   
4. Get to know the missionary’s parents/siblings through visits and contacts. Recognize special occasions like Chinese New Year and Christmas with appropriate gifts. Go a step further and invite their family to special gatherings and offer practical help where possible to aged parents, especially if the missionary is an only child. Offer to bring things from the family to the missionary if someone is going.
   
5. Offer whatever practical/logistic help needed within your Care Group’s capabilities. Talk it over with the missionary and ask if there are things you can do. There are often things that the missions committee does which is good to decentralize to CG’s. For example, the logistics related to renting out their home or renewing certain memberships or licenses.
   
6. The Care Group may want to help raise financial support for the missionary and participate in the FPO. You could do this as individuals or as a group. You could collect special offering to bless the missionary above and beyond their FPO on occasion.
   
7. Communicate with the missionary through letters, cards, email, and sms, etc. Send newspaper clippings, magazines, amusing/interesting items, photos, CDs, and care packages. Be creative in how you communicate however be sensitive when the missionary’s work is in a “creative access” country. You could update the missionary on current local news both in the church and Singapore, and any changes in government or educational policies that might affect them. The key is regular contact.
   
8. Find out all you can about the ministry that the missionary is involved in. Learn about their team-mates, their missions agency, their local friends, and their favourite relaxing thing to do. Discover what is the most challenging and most enjoyable thing about their work.
   
9. Visit a missionary on one of our 1 week mission trips. Plan a mission trip for your entire CG, but be considerate about your missionaries remembering they are there for the gospel not as tour guides!
   
10. When a missionary is preparing to return for a home-assignment (typically a shorter 2-6 month visit home) or a permanent return, you can provide invaluable Re-Entry support:
    • A couple of months before the missionary returns send materials/information that may be relevant to his/her return.
    • Be part of the welcoming party.
    • Help integrate the missionary back to church life and to Singapore.
    • Think of creative ways the missionary can share his/her experiences. Invite them to your CG and schedule other ways.
    • Consider practical ways like assisting to transport their possessions if some are being shipped back.
    • Accept and love the missionary unconditionally. Give them time to adjust, and don’t place him/her on a pedestal.

Empowered to Minister:
You do not need the missions committee approval to do these things. Take the initiative and simply keep us in the loop. Even if you don’t tell us, we’re very happy! We’re totally thrilled when we hear about people caring for our missionaries in ways that we never even knew about! The only exception to this is if you’re planning to visit a missionary. We want to guide you so that your visit is a maximum blessing to them, so do let us know if you’re considering this even if it’s just a social visit or stopping by en-route to a holiday destination.